Mission San Luis de Talimali

Mission San Luis de Talimali: Fort San Luis de Apalachee (1695-1704) - A Spanish Colonial fort established to protect the Mission San Luis de Apalachee around 1695 in present day Tallahassee FL. The fort and the Mission were destroyed by the fleeing Spanish and Apalachee in summer 1704. Also known as Mission San Luis de Apalachee.

Fort of 1695.

Mission San Luis de Talimali, the Mission and the Fort

Plan of the fort of 1695.

In 1633, a catholic Mission was established by Spanish friars close to the Native American Apalachee capital. In 1638, 4-5 soldiers were lodged at the Mission to represent the Spanish authority. After the Apalachee revolt of 1651, the soldiers were returned to Saint Augustine for some time. In 1656, a garrison of 12 soldiers came to the mission after rumor of a new revolt and plan for the construction of a fort was presented, but no action was taken. The Mission became the capital town of the Apalachee and settlers came in the area. Maybe the garrison of 12, to 40 soldiers when the British traders appeared on the Spanish territory, lived in a blockhouse or a fort, but nothing is said about that.

Many times, the Spanish thought of a fort for protection against rebellion, but the threat from outsider won the government over. Around 1695, because of the imminent threat of Creeks and British slave raids, captain Roque Pérez built a new fort. It was a 40 by 70 feet blockhouse of palm posts wattle and daub containing the powder house, the wharehouse, the barracks and the guardroom. The two stories blockhouse was inside a 130 by 230 feet log palisade with four bastions and a 3-5 feet dry ditch. In January 1704, Colonel James Moore and his Creek allies destroyed some villages around the Mission and Spanish, with their allies, lost the Flint River Battle north of the Mission. In June, Moore came back. The Spanish, and Apalachee, power in the Apalachee territory, the western Florida colony, collapsed. The fleeing population burned the fort and the Mission in July before going to the Spanish at Saint Augustine, or to the French at Mobile as refugees, or to the Creeks and the British as refugees or as slaves. The British did not occupy the area at that time, and the Spanish still garrisoned fort San Marcos de Apalachee by the Gulf of Mexico.

Mission San Luis de Talimali, History

Blockhouse from the entrance of the fort.

Inside the blockhouse, the barracks.

Entrance of the fort.

The Mission San Luis de Apalachee was established in 1633 at the invitation of the mighty Apalachee who searched European traders and allies against other tribes of the north. This Mission was one of many others established in the Southeast by friars and approved by Spanish government to expand Christianity and the Spanish colony of Florida. This Missions line was part of the struggle to control this part of North America by European nations. Years of Mission, ill-treatment and deceases undermine aggressiveness of Appalachee. The British of Carolinas, with their Native American allies, targeted the weak Missions as enemy bastion and slave’s reservoir. 1704 was the final act for the Apalachee tragedy.

Current Status

Mission San Luis National Historic Landmark, Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. Reconstructed fort and Mission buildings (Apalachee Council House, Spanish House, Church, Friary and Blacksmith Forge) can be visited with costumed people .